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<\/a><\/span> time to put the poems together for Issue 79, the one that\u2019s out now<\/span><\/a><\/span> with hoopoes and a wild boar on the front cover, the three editors borrowed the sitting-room of a North London basement flat.\u00a0 We each laid out on the floor our own proposal for ordering.\u00a0 We were well on the way to a synthesis when the door was nudged open and a small black whirlwind skittered across the room, sending paper flying.\u00a0 And back again, taking a different route.\u00a0 Muddy paw-prints everywhere.\u00a0 It was very funny and the puppy was adorable when she calmed down.\u00a0 But then I didn\u2019t have to try to recreate a magazine.\u00a0 Michael Mackmin\u2019s thoughts may have been less charitable.<\/p>\nOrdering the poems was like putting up a tent \u2013 the canvas needs to be taut everywhere, if it sags then a prop is needed.\u00a0 (This metaphor won\u2019t stand up itself when tested, but I found it helped the thinking.)\u00a0 The prop might be a longer set of poems, or one especially striking poem.\u00a0 Or two.<\/p>\n
It seems to be good to have, in the juxtapositions, a mixture of resonances\/echoes and contrasts. When I did my own ordering before we met, I made mistakes, for example putting two longer sets of work next to each other that were a little similar in tone.\u00a0 Not that this would always not work, but it didn\u2019t here.<\/p>\n
One of the best things about The Rialto<\/i> is its A4 spaciousness \u2013 there\u2019s room for longer poems, or several from the same author, without unbalancing the magazine or making it look crammed.\u00a0 So there are six short poems from Niall Campbell, plus his prose account of his own writing. Co-assistant editor Abigail Parry and I are both fans of his work and now Michael is too.\u00a0 Niall\u2019s first collection from Bloodaxe is one of my most-anticipated books of 2014.\u00a0 There are some poems from Nichola Deane, whose pamphlet My Moriarty<\/i> I\u2019ve just reviewed<\/span><\/a> <\/span>on my blog (as I did Niall’s<\/span><\/a><\/span>); several pages given to Hannah Lowe\u2019s work in progress centred on saxophonist Joe Harriott who introduced her parents to each other; and three new poems from Rialto pamphlet poet Janet Rogerson.<\/p>\n World War One looms, with Carol Rumens and Liz Berry in search of their ancestors.\u00a0 Michael swooped on Kim Moore at Aldeburgh after she\u2019d read \u2018A Trumpet Teacher\u2019s Curse\u2019 and secured it for the magazine.\u00a0 There are other Rialto names such as Christina Dunhill and Julie Mellor.\u00a0 Then there are poets new to The Rialto<\/i>, some not yet much published, such as Roderic Vincent, Alex Bell, Selina Rodrigues, Joe Dresner, Edison Dupree who I don\u2019t think has appeared in the UK before, and Olivia Walwyn whose first published poem I think we\u2019ve got.\u00a0 (My first published poem appeared in The Rialto<\/i>; that was a life-changing event.)\u00a0 The RSPB\/Rialto poetry competition has thrown up some new-to-The-Rialto<\/i> names too, and some birds.\u00a0 Michael the birder tries to get away from these but they swim, fly, swagger or display in the rest of the magazine too: magpie, peacock, kingfisher, duck.\u00a0 I think bird poems have to be extra good to get in.<\/p>\n